The Hanging Tree
by Queen of the Wallflowers
Summary: ONESHOT. Cressida notices that something is wrong with Gale when Katniss sings her song. She follows him through the district and he tells her his love story. It changes her life, forever. More than Katniss ever can.


**edited on 3.31.15**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Hunger Games or the song 'The Hanging Tree.' They belong to Suzanne Collins and Jennifer Lawrence.**

**Prompt: Gale has some memories regarding a certain blonde that are connected to the hanging tree and Cressida interviews him about it. **

* * *

_Are you, Are you coming to the tree?_

_They strung up a man they say who murdered three._

_Stranger things have happened and no stranger would it be _

_If we met at midnight in the hanging tree._

* * *

Cressida smiled as Katniss began to sing.

The song was beautiful and haunting and so rebellious.

It was what they needed after such a depressing day.

Hearing Gale describe the deaths and seeing it all was horrifying.

Hearing his guilt, his what ifs was heartbreaking.

She looked around to see everyone smiling, everyone but Gale.

* * *

Gale had this pain look in his eyes- guilt, sorrow, love, and broken. An emotion she only saw once in her sister's eyes, as they watched her boyfriend become an avox.

She saw him mouth the words and he began playing with this ribbon, a pretty blue one, one that looked like it came from the capitol, that was tied on his wrist. She noticed that he had a few other ribbons on him.

* * *

Once the song was over, she asked if they could stay longer and just film some more. It was deemed safe and she told her crew to follow Katniss.

She needed to talk to Gale.

Katniss began walking toward the Justice House, the mayor's house, the bakery, and her home.

Gale followed her and stopped where the mayor's house was supposed to be. He dropped to his knees and began looking for something.

Cressida followed him quietly and stopped when he pulled out a box, opening it she saw ribbons, tons of hair ribbons.

He looked at it sadly and placed the box in his bag.

* * *

Then he spoke.

"As long as I could remember there was a barrier, town and seam. It was rare to cross it. Few did, Mrs. Cassandra Everdeen was one of them, she married a miner.

She had two best friends- Maysillee and Madeline. May was reaped for the Hunger Games with Haymitch. She was in love with him and they teamed up, she never told him but he found out when he won. He lost his love to the games.

Madeline went insane seeing her sister died. She always suffered from headaches but it got to the point where she spent all day in bed.

Cassandra fell in love with a miner. William Everdeen and married him, they had two daughters. Madeline married the mayor and went to the capitol and they gave her a daughter.

When Katniss was young, her father and mine were killed in a mining accident, but it was no accident. They were murdered. I met her and another girl that day. Katniss and I stepped up to receive out father's medal and there was this little girl.

Town girl. Blonde and blue eyes and had a pretty black ribbon, I hated her.

She was a town girl, the mayor's daughter to boot.

Madge Undersee was her name."

* * *

Cressida's mind is whirling, putting pieces together. Madge was important to Gale, and she wasn't at 13.

* * *

Gale looks at her and begins walking again, talking.

"Katniss and I met in the woods. She messed with my traps and was smart.

I liked her and I taught her how to hunt. We became partners and I fell in love with her.

When you turn 16, you can marry. Everyone thought we would get married.

But they she was reaped and I had to watch as Peeta confessed his love for her and I was named her cousin. I was angry.

Madge was Katniss's only friend and Peeta's friend. She visited them both and I got mad. She and I knew each other.

Katniss and I hunted illegally and sold out things to people. She always brought our strawberries and she would pay extra or try to give us her extra food. Katniss would take it but I would never, so she used to drop it off with the laundry that my mother washed.

Anyway, I yelled at Madge and she yelled at me. We screamed and the next thing I know we are kissing. It's one of those shove her against the building and bit her lip ones.

We both pulled away and I whispered Katniss and she walked away. I tried to avoid her but Prim wanted her with her during the games. Madge and I spent a lot of thing together and she kept saying that we would have a winner.

I yelled at her saying that Peeta wouldn't make it. She laughed and said that Peeta didn't care about dying. She said, "Peeta cares about Katniss, he's going to get her out."

* * *

Cressida was enchanted with the story. It was one a love story that rivaled the Mockingjays. Gale held out his hand to her and she took it. He began helping her through the rumble.

* * *

"When Peeta proclaimed his love, I left the viewing and she followed me over the fence."

He pointed to a fence that was torn down.

We ended up by a lake and she sat down next to me and we were silent. Then I began yelling and screaming and she kissed me. She shoved me to the ground and we kissed for some time.

After a while, we both stopped and lay down next to each other. That became our thing. Whenever we were mad about something, we would meet up somewhere and just kiss.

Eventually we started talking and I started having some feelings for Madge, but I still had feelings for Katniss."

"The lake we were at…."

"That was where we kissed often. Sometimes we would talk, once she sang to me."

"The Hanging Tree?"

She nodded and Cressida realized how hard it must have been being here talking about everyone dying and then hearing Katniss singing.

* * *

He pulls her along to the outskirts of town.

"The Slag Heap use to be here. It was the hook up/make out place. I kissed tons of girls but never slept with them, despite rumors."

Cressida's eyes widen at the implications.

"When I found out that Katniss was coming home, I was so happy and I was mean to Madge. I blew her off, her kisses, her words, her kindness, all I blew off in favor of Katniss. I dumped her, I guess you could say. But then I saw how confused Katniss was and I backed for a bit. I flirted with Madge and we began sneaking around, until I kissed Katniss before she left to the other districts. When she announced her marriage, Madge found me drunk and we had sex. It was both of our first times and the most amazing time of my life."

* * *

She follows him until they are in the middle of the ruble.

"The stocks used to be here. I got whipped for poaching and almost died. Madge saved me and I don't know why. I treated her horribly yet, she was so kind to me. I thanked her and we had sex."

* * *

Gale slowly down and walks up to where a tree stood, in the forest, near the fence, but hidden from view.

"This is the hanging tree."

"When Katniss began the games, Madge and I met every now and then under here. On the night, she blew up the arena, and we were sent home, Madge met me under the hanging tree and told me she loved me for a long time and was pregnant.. with my child."

* * *

He choked back a sob and Cressida wiped away a few tears.

* * *

"I had fallen in love with her somewhere along the way and I used Katniss as a buffer. That moment, it was just us and I told her I loved her too. We kissed and then we climbed into the tree and she began singing that song.

Then she froze and we heard the peacekeepers leaving. We waited till they all left before we ran back to the district and she said something felt wrong. It was too quiet. As a hunter, silence means danger. I told her we were going to get people out of the district, and into the lake. We ran to get my friend Thom and he and I ran out getting Seam people out. Madge and my brother Rory went to town to get people out. Thom and some of the men knocked the fence back and they took the people to the lake.

Rory comes back with a little girl, a baby, actually. He tells me that Madge told him to run. I nod and run to where she is. She is begging her father and mother and they are refusing.

I grab her and we run, trying to convince the town people to leave. They decide to go down the road.

I don't like being in the road, it's too crowded so we push our way out.

We were on our way to the fence when the first bomb fell.

People began screaming.

Madge and I turned to see another bomb go. The next thing I know, she is running back and I scream at her.

There was a woman with a baby, maybe twenty feet away, the woman had been knocked down due to the blast and she wasn't moving. Madge went back for the baby and I followed her. She shoved the baby in my arms and we ran. She was behind me. We were so close.

Then another bomb and it hit her house. She screamed and started crying. We managed to get to the lake. She nursed the baby until it slept and then we volunteered to go back to look for survivors. We walked around, looking for anything, anyone.

She told me to go to my house and see if I can take anything. She was going to hers.

We didn't find anyone and the rest of the small group were going to homes looking for things that could be used.

* * *

She and a few others were in town when it happened."

Here Gale stops and drops to his knee, pain etched on his face. He has a hand on the tree, gathering its strength. Cressida is shaking, tears falling down faster as she knows the story is drawing to a close.

* * *

"I guess the capitol wasn't done. Bombing. They threw another bomb."

Gale's eyes are close, no doubt seeing the scene.

"I heard her scream my name, and then nothing. That silence scared me more than my name did. I took off running toward her, not caring that the others were telling me not to risk it."

* * *

Gale looked up at her.

"I had to save her. Madge. She was all I had left."

His shoulders slump.

"When I got to where I could see the town, the plane was on the ground, they picked up her body and placed it in the plane and then they were gone. They took her."

* * *

He touched the tree, tracing something.

"I don't know if she is dead or alive. They just took her. They bombed her and then took her. And I'm left asking 'Why?'."

Cressida sees the name Madge on the tree.

* * *

"They took the girl I love away-Katniss. Then they took my woman- my Madge."

Gale looks at her and she can see the boy in him, the boy that died a long time ago, replaced by a man who grew up too quickly and was dealt cruel hands by fate.

A man who knows what Katniss is dealing with, what Finnick is dealing with. A man who can't ask for his love one back because he is no one. He is a solider not a victor.

A man who lost his family, his love and child.

* * *

Gale looks at her hard, his eyes wet with tears, but hard. Cold gray eyes meet wet brown eyes.

"Why?"

Cressida doesn't care. She drops to her knees and wraps her arms around him, crying.

He must have kept this all in, never saying a word.

* * *

The Capitol could have bombed them and they would have been unaware, it was just them crying.

* * *

After a minute or so, they stand and Gale guides her through the district telling her about his memories, his family, Katniss, and Madge. Mostly Madge.

Cressida watches as he plays with the blue ribbon around his wrist, one that she learned belonged to Madge.

* * *

In about two hours she knows more about Gale Hawthorne than anyone else besides Madge did.

She understands him, why he puts everything he has into Katniss. To distract himself, so others won't know. To show that he is strong. To show the capitol he is okay.

* * *

When they meet everyone else at the victor's home, she watches as they talk and then Katniss kisses Gale. She knows it means nothing to either one, they are just going through the motions.

Seeing them, makes her want the capitol to die.

* * *

She looks at them and thinks of the other couples she has seen or talked to- dead and alive.

* * *

Finnick and Annie.

Peeta and Katniss.

Gale and Madge.

Haymitch and Maysillee. Now Haymitch and Effie.

Clove and Cato.

Johanna and her lover.

* * *

None of them stood a chance. Their lives would all have been different if the games never existed. If the games never occurred, then Gale and Katniss wouldn't seem so strange.

But the games happened and Gale and Katniss don't work.

Maybe one day, when they are too broken and if Peeta and Madge are dead, they will work. But it will never grow to love. They would see their dead love in the other. They would be living with ghosts.

Cressida shakes her head.

They are already are.

* * *

They get back on the hovercraft and she watches Gale and Katniss.

* * *

She edits the footage herself. Gale's footage. She can't find herself to let anyone else handle it.

* * *

She smiles when Plutarch shows off the video of Katniss, but then she thinks of the video on her laptop, her programming, of how much more powerful it would be.

* * *

Before Gale leaves for the capitol on a rescue mission, he pulls her aside.

She knows he is hoping to find Madge.

She pulls him aside and whispers a good luck. He looks at her and then whispers.

"Show it." There is no doubt to what IT is. She nods and kisses his cheek.

* * *

She hopes. She prays. She begs that Gale finds Madge.

She edits the video and then hands it to Betee and tells him to play it. She interviews Finnick and lets people see it.

* * *

She plays Gale's story on a loop, everyone sees it.

The capitol, the people, it plays on the TV and on the radios.

She goes out to the cafeteria and everyone hears Gale's voice.

Everyone finds out the love story and they feel pity. Everyone but Katniss seems to know now.

* * *

When Gales comes back Cressida can tell by his face, that he didn't find her.

Madge hasn't been found.

* * *

Later that night, she meets him in the dining area, and he is eating strawberries.

She sits down next to him and takes his hand.

"She wasn't there."

His eyes are red and so are his lips.

"I don't know how to move on."

He whispers and she feels a pain in her heart.

"She could be alive."

"She could be dead… or worse."

There is no question to what worse is. She has seen Peeta.

They stay like that, holding hands eating strawberries, her listening, him talking about Madge.

* * *

When Katniss wakes up from her accident she still has no clue about what everyone knows. She still believes that Gale loves her and Cressida doesn't have the heart to tell her otherwise.

* * *

She is walking down the hallway when she finds Gale with some men his age. She freezes when they ask about Madge and she sees Gale smile and begin to talk about her.

* * *

He is moving on, not from her. Never from her.

But he is accepting of that she isn't there.

* * *

Cressida hasn't ruled out the option on her being alive. Maybe she never will.

* * *

Peeta and Katniss's love story bores her.

She is now rooting for a new story.

Gale's story.

* * *

She makes a silent promise that after the war is over, she will write their stories. All the love stories.

Of all victors and tributes.

She knows people will want to know about Cashmere and the tribute from 9. Of Glimmer and Marvel. Clove and Cato. Thresh and Jackie 'Foxfire'. Of May and Haymitch. Of Snow's daughter, Victoria and the boy from district 4 of the 67th Hunger Games. Of Johanna and her mentor. Of Gale and Madge.

* * *

All the stories didn't get their happy endings but she is hopeful for Gale.

She has to be.

Someone has to be.

* * *

Katniss and Peeta are the girl on fire and the boy with the bread.

But Gale and Madge are the boy with the traps and the girl with the strawberries.

Two who don't match or belong together but do.

They are a challenge and she always loves a challenge.

* * *

She is rooting for the girl with the strawberries to come home.

* * *

She stands in front of the camera, and takes a deep breath.

"Hi, Madge. It's Cressida. We miss you so much. If you see this send us a signal. If anyone knows where Madge is let us know. Snow please just tell us if she is alive, that's all we need to know. Madge don't worry. We will find you. And don't worry about Gale…"

The camera zooms over to Gale who is eating strawberries and looking at Cressida who sits next to him, kissing his cheek.

"I promise to take care of him until you come back. We love you. See you soon, Madge."

* * *

The camera turns off and in a few minutes it is being seen all over the capitol. Cressida squeezes Gale's hand and they sit connected, sitting surrounded by the others.

The war is not over, but it's a rare quiet moment in their lives. No one is fighting, no one is crying or yelling.

Katniss is braiding Prim's hair while Finnick and Annie talk with her and Johanna. Johanna is braiding Annie's hair. Rory and Vick are talking with Posy. Gale is eating strawberries and talking with Finnick. She is simply listening and watching.

* * *

**Not sure where this came from. I was watching the movie with my friend and when Katniss started singing I was like it need to look up this song. I could picture two lovers meeting under a tree and in my head I was like, Gale and Madge would be perfect.**

**I wanted someone to hear the story and I figured Cressida who is amazing would be the perfect person.**

**I left the ending the way it is because it can go two ways. They find Madge after the war and she and the baby are alive and well. She and Gale live happily ever after.**

**Or Madge dies and Gale moves on with Cressida. Or Johanna. **

**The ending is up to you. **

**Let me know what you think. Review. **

**Love you Wallflowers!**


End file.
